Proboscidea louisianica

Flowering specimen of Proboscidea louisianica

Proboscidea louisianica is a flowering plant in the family of Gemsenhorngewächse ( Martyniaceae ). It is partly used the German trivial name Gemshorn. She is one of six species of the genus Proboscidea.

• 5.1 Notes and references

Description

Appearance and foliage leaf

Proboscidea louisianica is an annual plant with an outstretched or ascending stems at a height of from 10 to 30 cm. The entire plant is covered with sticky glandular trichomes. The opposite, later alternate on the stem arranged leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The strong petioles have a length of 5 to 15 cm. The simple leaf blade is heart-shaped with a diameter of 5 to 20 cm or broad - ovate to almost circular.

Inflorescence and flower

Few flowers are borne in a loose, racemose inflorescence. The hermaphrodite flowers are zygomorphic and fünfzählig double perianth. The five 1.5 to 2 cm long and blunt sepals are fused. The five 3.5 to 5 cm long petals are fused; the crown is reddish to purplish and has large, white-yellow juice times.

Fruit and seeds

The unusually shaped fruit capsule is pulled at its tip into long, curved horns, which are three times as long as the actual fruit capsule. The seeds are elongate ovoid with scarred surface with a length of about 4 to 6 mm.

Dissemination

Proboscidea louisiana thrives in wetlands of the Sacramento Valley and in coastal areas of South Carolina all the way down to Mexico.

Taxonomy

This species was first described in 1768 by Philip Miller as a species of the genus Martynia. He used the name in the actual text form Martynia louisiana, but the corrected to a page with error corrections at the end of the work on Martynia louisianica. In 1912, the type of Albert Thellung was assigned to the genus Proboscidea. He shall enter the corrected form of the name Proboscidea louisianica used.

The genus name derives from the Greek Proboscidea Proboskis for " trunk " and refers to the shape of the fruit. The species name louisianica is borrowed from the natural habitat of the plant in the former colony of Louisiana.

Use

In the Southern loaded, semi-ripe fruits of Proboscidea (but also those of Ibicella lutea) apply in vinegar as a delicacy.

Literature sources

• Le Roy Abrams & Roxana Stinchfield Ferris: An illustrated flora of the Pacific States: Washington, Oregon and California, Volume 4, Stanford University Press, Stanford (California ) 1923-1960, p 2, Chapter Martyniaceae.